Food and the Rites of Passage

Baptism, Marriage, Childbirth, Death — these are the milestones of life over which the Christian church has traditionally officiated and ones invariably marked by a feast or comforting rituals founded on food and drink. Some of these habits flourished, then died away, such as the cups of wine passed around at a lying in; others have gone on to be industries in their own right, such as the wedding cake, wedding receptions and honeymoons.

The book consists of six essays by recognised food-historians, each taking in turn one of these milestones, sometimes (but not always) with a certain north-of-England and Church of England bias.